Singapore South Asian Community News — 2026-09-15

Singapore's South Asian ties span both commerce and the wider region this week. A new UPI payment option at Resorts World Sentosa makes the city-state more accessible for Indian tourists, extending India's digital payment infrastructure to one of Singapore's premier attractions. Across the subcontinent, the continuing story of Indian migrant workers streaming into Kashmir each spring illustrates the economic forces that drive hundreds of thousands of South Asians far from home in search of livelihoods, even when the journey carries serious risk. Together, these stories reflect the breadth of the South Asian experience connecting to and within Singapore's orbit.

UPI Now Accepted at Singapore's Resorts World Sentosa

Indian travellers visiting Singapore's Resorts World Sentosa can now use the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to book and pay online for a wide range of attractions and experiences, including Universal Studios Singapore. This development marks a meaningful step toward making Singapore more convenient for the large number of Indian tourists who visit annually. UPI, India's widely adopted digital payments platform, enables instant bank transfers through mobile devices and has become a primary payment tool for hundreds of millions of Indians. Its availability at one of Singapore's most prominent leisure and entertainment destinations reflects the deepening economic ties between India and Singapore and the recognition of Indian tourism's scale and importance to the city-state. For Indian visitors, the move removes friction that can arise when using unfamiliar international payment systems or paying foreign transaction fees on credit cards. For Singapore's South Asian diaspora community, the expansion is also a signal of how India's homegrown digital infrastructure continues to extend its reach to destinations frequented by Indians globally, making it easier for travellers and residents alike to transact using familiar tools. The integration covers online booking for the integrated resort's multiple venues and experiences, giving Indian visitors a seamless way to plan and pay for their trips. [4]

Indian Migrant Workers Persist in Kashmir Despite Militant Dangers

Each spring, an estimated half a million Indian migrant workers travel to the Kashmir valley, forming what local business leaders describe as the indispensable backbone of an economy increasingly reliant on labor from some of India's poorest states. Workers like Mohammad Ghulam Sarwar, a 25-year-old mason from Bihar, make the annual journey because wages in Kashmir can reach 1,200 rupees ($12) a day — nearly double the roughly 700 rupees he might earn back home, if work were available at all. The economic pull is strong even as the risks are severe: since 2019, at least 24 migrant workers have been killed in militant attacks across the territory, and the most recent attack saw gunmen shoot dead two brick kiln workers from Chhattisgarh. The South Asia Terrorism Portal recorded more than 1,500 deaths in Kashmir over the same period, including 219 civilians. The Muslim-majority region, which faces some of India's highest unemployment rates, depends heavily on outside labor for construction, agriculture, and domestic work, with locals often unwilling or unable to fill many available roles. Mohammad Ashraf Mir of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated that outside the handicrafts sector there is "not nearly enough local skilled labour available in Kashmir," and described a trend moving toward absolute dependence on migrant workers. Each morning in Srinagar, groups of day laborers gather at prominent public squares to wait for employers to hire them. For Sarwar and hundreds of thousands like him, Kashmir is still worth the risk: "Kashmir is real paradise. I will keep coming every year for as long as I have the strength to work," he told AFP. [3]

Sources: [4] travel.economictimes.indiatimes.com · [3] Yahoo News Singapore